This ledger was used by Neziah Wright Bliss to record weather statistics at Warsaw, Ill., from Aug. 1854 to Sept. 1856. He also used the book as a diary, including recipes, garden and farm notes, and data on natural phenomena.

Bliss's son, Wyllys King Bliss, gave the ledger book to the Chicago office of the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1935, and it was subsequently transferred to the Springfield office, to the Illinois State Water Survey, and, in 1973, to the Illinois Historical Survey.